Grieving family seeks answers after death

Okobi, of Redwood City, was seen running in and out of traffic around 1 p.m. on Oct. 3 in the 1300 block of El Camino Real in Millbrae, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Okobi then allegedly assaulted a deputy who contacted him, prompting the deputy to call for backup. Four other deputies arrived and at least one of them used a Taser on Okobi, according to San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe, whose office is conducting the investigation.

Burris and Okobi’s family reject the assertion that Okobi was violent. Burris said two videos shot by bystanders that the family has seen raise a lot of questions for them about the use of the Taser on Okobi. Calls to a San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman were not returned. The office had previously directed questions to the District Attorney’s Office.

Burris said it’s unclear how many times the Taser was used on Okobi, who exactly fired it, and whether the deputies employed any other use of force. He and the family also question whether the deputies were properly trained to employ a Taser.

“Improper use of a Taser should warrant a criminal prosecution,” Burris said.

“Our overriding concern here is we don’t know what crime, if any, he committed beforehand,” Burris said. “If what he was doing was walking in and out of traffic — that is not a death warrant and excessive force with a Taser should not have been used.”

Burris also said he saw videos in which officers “toss [Okobi] around like he’s a ragamuffin.”

Burris urged the District Attorney’s Office to release all Taser records, videos related to the case and medical and toxicology reports on Okobi. Wagstaffe has said prosecutors will release a report with more details about the case in eight to 10 weeks, and added that the law does not require him to release information while the investigation is underway.

“I’m not trying to hide anything from Burris. He’ll get everything, it’s just a matter of timing,” Wagstaffe said.

Wagstaffe expects a coroner’s report will be complete in four to six weeks, and then he’ll make his decision. He said “everything” will be made public by about mid-December.

Okobi had a history of mental illness, which his family believes may have caused him to walk into traffic that day. However, one of his sisters noted that he was living on his own and had been taking medication since 2009.

Wagstaffe said he will interview family members to better understand Okobi’s mental illness.

Burris suggested that the responding officers failed to acknowledge signs of mental illness and behaved too aggressively from the start of their interaction with Okobi.

“We have concerns about the recognition and treatment of an apparently mentally disabled person,” Burris said. “Clearly [police] had a right to stop him, that’s just a safety check. But once you see him and the person may be disoriented — you don’t Tase him because of that. ... Maybe you ought to think there’s another approach here. Maybe it’s called de-escalation or talking to that person in a reasonable manner, not yelling at that person, not demanding.”

Burris also noted that Okobi had no history of violence, appeared to be in good physical health and there is no evidence that he used “hard street drugs.”

Okobi’s sister Ebele Okobi spoke on behalf of the family present at the news conference, and urged the public to think of her younger brother as a person, not “just another name.”

“He’s our little brother. We will never get him back,” she said.

Okobi is survived by his daughter Christina Oboki; his parents Amaka and Telema Okobi; his siblings Chukwuemeka Okobi, Ebele Okobi, Ekene Okobi, Tobenna Okobi, Olivia Okobi and Stacia Okobi.